Convention Wisdom: Political conventions through the years

Two veterans from Kansas chatted, and displayed their patriotism, at the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. Robert Harbison/The Christian Science Monitor/File

William Jennings Bryan, campaigning here in Chicago, won the nomination after delivering his famous ‘cross of gold’ speech at the Democratic convention in 1896. AP/File

A button for Teddy Roosevelt during the 1904 campaign. AP/File

At their 1912 convention, Republicans chose William Howard Taft over Teddy Roosevelt. AP/File

Harry Truman gave an impassioned speech at the 1948 Democratic convention in Philadelphia that helped him win an unlikely victory in the fall. AP/File

Eleanor Roosevelt delivers a stirring speech that mollifies a fractured Democratic Party, one night after her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was nominated for an unprecedented third term in 1940. AP/File

A furious Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley stood at a microphone at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, where the party was bitterly divided over Vietnam. AP/File

AIDS activist Mary Fisher, who gave a stirring speech at the GOP convention in 1996, hugs Hydeia Broadbent. Ruth Fremson/AP/File

Sen. Edward Kennedy delivered a rousing speech at the Democratic convention in 1980 after losing the nomination to Jimmy Carter. AP/File

Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a memorable speech at the Republican convention in 2004 in which referenced his growing up under Soviet rule in Austria. Joe Cavaretta/AP/File

GOP candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, attend a rally in Wolfeboro, N.H. Analysts expect family members to tell personal stories to help humanize Mr. Romney at the GOP convention. Charles Dharapak/AP